1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates in general to recreational game balls. More particularly, the invention pertains to the games of softball and baseball and the type of game balls that may be substituted for those required for the rules of softball or baseball in order to enhance safety during training or informal play.
2. The Problem
Safety, performance, and durability are three extremely important considerations when selecting a baseball or similar recreational ball, particularly for training and practice purposes. Usually safety is sacrificed for performance and/or durability, but game balls have also been constructed in which safety has been emphasized at the expense of performance and durability.
A standard or regulation baseball, sometimes called a "hardball," weighs approximately 5 ounces (143 grams) and has a circumference of about 9 inches (22.9 centimeters). Regulation baseballs are composite ball constructed of a cork and rubber core around which yarn is wrapped and a leather cover sewn. Virtually everyone who has ever played with a regulation baseball is well aware of the reason for referring to it as a "hardball." The hardness of regulation baseballs, in fact, poses very substantial safety and training problems.
A so-called "softball" is in fact a baseball of larger diameter than a regulation baseball, but a ball that is still quite hard. Regulation softballs come in five sizes, with the approximately 12 inch (30.5 centimeter) circumference ball being most widely used, the 16 inch (40.6 centimeter) circumference ball gaining in acceptance, and use, and 10 inch (20.5 centimeter), 11 inch (27.9 centimeter), and 14 inch (35.6 centimeter) circumference softballs used to a lesser degree. While the density of softballs is less than that of a hardball, softballs still pose safety problems as well as training problems, particularly for younger players.
Both regulation baseballs and softballs are covered with a leather cover that is formed from two pieces that are sewn together by hand with herringbone stitching. The stitching tends to form ridges which affect the aerodynamics of the balls and facilitate the throwing of pitches which break, curve, or slide during their trajectory. The associated appearance, texture, and surface features, while desirable in any substitute game ball, have not reliably been recreated in embodiments of substitutes having enhanced safety as an objective. Thus the appearance, feel, and aerodynamic behavior of substitutes is one area of performance that has been degraded in substitutes in order to achieve enhanced safety.
The importance of having both safety and performance in any substitute softball or baseball can futher be illustrated by making reference to the training techniques used by professional athletes who spend many hours in team and individual practice seeking to refine their skills and develop confidence. Conventionally, such training has utilized regulation baseballs and softballs, which exposes the players to considerable risk of being hit and seriously injured by batted or thrown balls. As a result, players are ever alert to the possibility of being hit by balls, which tends to build tightness instead of confidence.
Foul tips and wild pitches are responsible for numerous broken fingers, thumbs, noses, and other injuries, and yet a catcher needs to practice holding on to foul pitches and catching pitches in the dirt. Pitchers must practice fielding, and yet their close proximity to the batter results in serious injuries every year from batted balls. Crushed cheek bones, chipped teeth, concussions, and eye injuries can and do occur to pitchers during practice sessions, as well as games. Runners get hit with batted balls and thrown balls while practicing base running. Infielders must endure bad hops, poor throws, and line drives, and outfielders will lose balls in the sun or have them blown in the wind. All batters must learn to stand in the batter's box against curves and sliders, mixed with 90 mile per hour and faster fast balls. Bruised arms, legs, and feet and concussions are predictable occurrences.
These dangers are present from the major leagues down to sandlot and little league play. In lower levels the balls tend to travel somewhat more slowly, but the player skills are substantially less, making the risk of injury, even during training or practice, still quite significant.
Furthermore, actual injuries and the fear thereof have a profound impact on the ability of younger players to relax and learn the game. In numerous instances, the potential risk of being hit by thrown and batted balls leads many beginners to shun the sport.
Major league, college, high school, and even little league players must have a training ball that has performance characteristics which are close enough to that of a regulation ball so that the time spent in training will build usable skills, rather than lulling the player into developing poor habits which will not suffice under game conditions with a regulation ball. For this reason any safety motivated substitute baseball or softball should optimally have performance characteristics that make it useful as a training tool for skilled as well as unskilled players. Such balls should not sail when pitched hard because of their light weight; they should have realistic and reproducible rebound characteristics; and they should have adequate durability so as to maintain their shape and resiliency during normal use, particularly when repeatedly used for batting practice. Deterioration should not be exacerbated by water, which is predictably present during the use of the balls outdoors, and the weight and rebound characteristics of the substitute should not be susceptible to variation due to easy absorption of moisture by the cover and internal materials.
Apart from the training potential afforded by an acceptable substitute baseball of softwall, some circumstances call for a recreational game ball that is safer than a regulation baseball of softball. At the commonplace family or office picnic, for example, pickup baseball games occur in which the skill levels vary widely among the participants. Such games are usually played on uneven fields, often confined in area. Few gloves are available for use by the players in the field. Play with a baseball in such situtations is imprudent because of the risk of injury, and even with a softball, it is not infrequent that players will be injured during play due being hit by the ball.
Poor weather often forces the play of ball sports indoors, for example, into a gymnasium. The risk of property damage in confined indoor areas from baseballs and softballs has largely relegated the use of gyms to ball sports such as basketball, volleyball and similar sports. Window breakage, abrasion and scuffing of floors and destruction of wallboard, light fixtures, and other property is almost certain to occur if a regulation baseball is used indoors. Insurance premiums for gymnasiums in which baseball practices are regularly held are higher as a result of the risk of physical property damage. Additionally, the risk of player injury increases dramatically as a result of the closer proximity of the players to each other and the hardness of the surfaces from which a ball in play can rebound.
While it cannot be expected that a safe substitute baseball of softball will ever replace regulation baseballs or softballs, because hardness is part of the regulation game, a safety ball can and should have sufficiently lively performance characteristics so as to enable the play of baseball-like games that are challenging, competitive and fun. The substitute, however, must not be a "jackrabbit" ball that rebounds off playing surfaces unrealistically. Younger players, for example, can learn much about the game of baseball and basic skills by playing competitive baseball games with a realistically performing, safety baseball or softball.